The conventional wisdom continues to be that conservative, deposit-taking businesses are in vogue. For Citigroup, you have to wonder if the board will focus on building a truly national retail banking brand. All this makes sense--what else is there to build on? Unfortunately, according to recent annual rankings by J.D. Power and Associates, noted by TheStreet.com, Citi's retail bank ranks below average for customer satisfaction in each of the six regions it operates within. The bank operates more than 900 branches in 14 states, mostly in the mid-Atlantic region.

Some think that the bank's failure to purchase Wachovia--recall it was outmaneuvered by Wells Fargo--will come back to haunt it. Talk of consolidation is once again cropping up. But I really can't see Citigroup as a potential big acquirer. Which means it may lose even more retail ground to the likes of JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bancorp and others that are better positioned to do deals. 

For more:
- here's the TheStreet.com article

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